First week of June and the temp is already in the 90s. We're guessing "it's gonna be a scorcher" this summer!

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, we are instituting summer hours, meaning we'll be in the shop earlier on the weekdays, and split shifts on the weekends. For anyone interested in taking a class, this means look for morning or evening class hours; for anyone stopping by the shop, you'll enjoy it more in the morning. See our posted hours for specifics.

And to off-set the idea of all that heat, here's hoping everyone gets some of this slip-n-slide action in the coming months!

“In 2016, opioids killed more people than breast cancer, even more than guns. Drug overdoses overall are the leading killer of people under the age of 50.” Thank you, NPR, for putting this into perspective. We’re still on the fence about whether we appreciate the tears you brought us to with this story during our morning commute.

Okay, right, appreciation is beside the point.

We’ve been hearing about “the opioid epidemic” for years, with increasing urgency.

We’ve talked at length in the hotshop about friends and acquaintances no longer among the living thanks to overdoses.

We know many people—many artists—who have flirted regularly (and sometimes had long, drawn-out, and unhappy relationships) with substance use.

Those stories aren’t ours to tell.But we know in our heart of hearts that they—the stories, the people—matter. We could even say they’re a little bit integral to who we are today as human beings and as a business.

And we’re tired of feeling so very powerless and hopeless in the face of so much urgent reporting, so many heartbreaking stories, so many deaths.

​Introducing Pumpkins with Purpose.We make a lot of blown glass pumpkins. We’ve made them since we took over this hotshop and we’ve made them through thick and thin for over a decade. They’re fun, they’re colorful, they make people happy. And now, we’re helping them serve a deeper purpose.

Effective May 1, 2018, we are donating 5% of the purchase price of every gallery-quality blown glass pumpkin we sell to Shatterproof.

That’s 5% of the cost of pumpkins we sell wholesale, as well as any we sell on our own at retail prices. We’ll make the contributions quarterly in April, July, October, and January. We hope it helps make a small difference in this unfortunate landscape of substance use, abuse, and addiction.

Why Shatterproof?When we tried to find groups tackling this addiction and overdose situation head-on, we were surprised at how few “big” organizations are out there.

Where is the American Cancer Society for addiction? Where is the American Heart Association or March of Dimes devoted to substance use disorders?

Shatterproof is working hard to rectify that situation.

As founder Gary Mendell puts it, “Shatterproof has an ambitious vision. [W]e will build a national organization that will treat addiction like the chronic disease that it is, offering evidence-based and tangible resources for prevention, treatment and recovery. It will foster tolerance and compassion, and dismantle the discrimination and judgment associated with this non-discriminating and devastating disease.”

And that’s something we can absolutely get behind.

Do more.If you’re so inspired, you can donate directly to Shatterproof online. They’re not yet rated by CharityNavigator. However, based on our examination of their financials, it looks like they’ve got a very healthy organization. Over 70% of their expenses are going toward their programs (not administrative overhead). Better still: that percentage has steadily increased over the 5 years they’ve been around.

Another organization whose mission resonates with us: Natural High. The idea here is helping young people find That Thing that excites their souls … and once you’ve found IT, the lure of oxy or meth or vodka or whatever is less alluring. Glass excites our souls so … you know … the idea makes sense to us.

Thank you!Every journey begins with a single step, right? Please join us on ours—and thank you, in advance, for helping us make this contribution toward fighting substance addiction.

My favorite aspect of bubble wrap used to be popping it. One bubble at a time, or stomping on a sheet to get that big ol' firecracker pop-pop-pop.

(BTW, for those of you with kids, it's awesome fun to host a pirate party where the kids "walk the plank" off a coffee table onto a pile of bubble wrap. Just sayin.)

But as the designated queen bee of shipping here at The Furnace, I have a new appreciation for bubble wrap. And packing peanuts.

When it comes to safely delivering our blown glass goodies to homes and galleries around the country, we've found that bubble wrap and packing peanuts and double-boxing are The Bomb. With a few layers of bubble secured around the piece, and some peanuts to provide cushioning between pieces (and/or to fill that layer of void between an interior box and an exterior box), the glass's odds of arriving unscathed at its final destination are greatly improved.

But bubble wrap and packing peanuts aren't the most environmentally-friendly.

Our solution?

We use biodegradable peanuts whenever possible. We're also the lucky beneficiaries of re-usable bubble wrap from one of our neighbors in the same commercial building. Sometimes we get lucky and locals bring us packing peanuts from their deliveries. If you have some peanuts or bubble wrap lurking around that you'd like to see re-used, instead of sent to the landfill, feel free to bring them by our shop. We're happy to take them off your hands.

Just please note: we can only use true bubble wrap (the sheets of "air blister" circles or rectangles in large or small sizes), not the "air pillow" kind of bubble. In the photo above, bubble wrap is on top; you can see some air pillows in the bottom left corner of the box. Air pillows just don't cushion the right way for our purposes. (But you can probably drop these off at your local pack-n-ship store for their use.)